Write a three page thesis driven analysis of The Ballad of the Landlord. Your paper must contain a strong thesis, textual evidence to support your thesis, and a conclusion that answers the question, “so what?”
The poem “The Ballad of the Landlord” circulates around three characters: the tenant, the landlord and the police. The main theme of the poem is the tenant and landlord relationship in a society. It shows racial discrimination between landlord, who seems to be a white, and the tenant, who is a black. The attitude of the poem is anger and despair, and it also deals with race and class issues.
The poem enlightens the complaints of the tenant with the landlord. After reading the whole poem through, we get to know that the tenant is a black. The tenant is asking the landlord to fix the things in the house, but the landlord isn’t interested in fixing rather he wants the tenant to pay the remaining amount of the rent.
Basically the poet Langston Hughes is talking about the 1930s time in New York when the blacks were treated poorly by the whites. Hughes was an African American himself and could understand the problems of the blacks of his time. He was an excellent and popular writer of his time. Through this poem he is trying to convey the message to the people and the authorities about the hardships faced by his community, and the ignorance of the government regarding these issues.
In the poem he discloses the basic necessities of a house which needed to be fixed. The tenant is requesting the landlord to fix the roof which is leaking. As written by Hughes in the following lines:
“My roof has sprung a leak.
Don’t you ‘member I told you about it
Way last week?”
These lines from the poem indicate that the tenant has been requesting the fixing of this leak for more than a week, but the landlord has turned a deaf ear towards it.
Also the following lines:
“These steps is broken down.”
indicate that the stairs leading into the tenant’s house were broken and dangerous, and climbing on them might result in an injury due to falling down. Maybe the tenant has fallen down before, because in the next line he wonders that how come the landlord never falls while coming up to him.
“When you come up yourself.
It’s a wonder you don’t fall down.” (Hughes)
Still the landlord does not take any notice of this. Rather he asks for the money, that is ten dollars, which the tenant owes him, as stated by Hughes in the following lines:
“Ten bucks you say I owe you?
Ten bucks you say is due?
Well, that’s Ten Bucks more’n I’l pay you
Till you fix this house up new.”
Upon the landlord’s demand of the money, in his state of desperateness the tenant is willing to pay more if the landlord fixes the house.
Dialogues between the tenant and the landlord are discussed in a rhythmical and effective tone. Strong imagery is found in the following lines:
1. “You gonna take my furniture and
Throw it in the street?”
And
2. “Copper’s whistle! Petrol bell!
Arrest.”
The tenant is very upset when the landlord tries to throw him out of the house. He says:
“What? You gonna get eviction orders?”
The landlord may have threatened the tenant to force him to leave his house because he wasn’t going to fix it for a black person, and was planning to get eviction orders, so that the tenant is forced to leave. Also to bother the tenant even more he threatens to disconnect the heating of the house. He also threatens to throw the tenant’s furniture out of the house onto the street to get rid of him.
At this pitiless and disrespectful behavior of the landlord the tenant gets very angry and threatens to punch the landlord. Upon being hit the landlord calls the police and complains about the black tenant and putting in further allegations against him that he was trying to destroy the white government and wanted the blacks to rule the white, by creating a big fuss.
After reading the following lines from the poem:
“Police! Police!
Come and get this man!
He’s trying to ruin the government
And overturn the land!”
Hughes is trying to explain about the injustice towards the black by mentioning about the tenant being arrested for a crime he has not committed. The police without further investigation arrest the tenant and put him on trial. The judge also does not allow bail for him and sends him to prison for 90 days.
We have sympathy with the tenant as he would be without a home. We get a clear picture of the frustration of the exploited African American, and the racial biasness and social injustices.
The poem is a phenomenal example of poverty, which shows the difficulty the black faced to survive in such a situation. The frustrated feelings of the poor black who wished to improve standards of living are quite emotional.
The poem is very interesting and touching as Hughes uses simple rhyme which not only attracts the readers but also helps them in understanding the poets point of view better. It shows how the blacks were treated unjustly by the whites in that time period. Hughes through this poem shows the way not only the landlords but also how the government used to maltreat the blacks at that time. He very clearly and boldly points out to the government, police and judges for their wrong decision and unfair behavior towards the black community in America. He uses this racial inequality in the poem to attract the readers towards it. The tenants had to pay or we should say were forced to pay the rent even though their living conditions were inappropriate.
It was hazardous, for the tenant, as the stairs were broken, unhygienic as the roof was leaking; the landlord wasn’t considering even a bit about fixing these things for the tenant’s safety.
Considering the situation of both the landlord and the tenant in the poem “The Ballad of the Landlord”, we can say no matter whatever the condition the tenant was living in, it was his duty to pay the complete rent so what the landlord did not repair the house. If he was not happy with the house he could have moved out and rented another house. He had already complained to the landlord about the fixing the house, so he should have waited for him to get it fixed. Instead he revealed his anger and frustration upon the landlord without considering that all these fixings required money, which maybe the landlord did not have at that time. When the tenant threatened the landlord he became obstinate and decided not to build the house instead wanted the tenant to leave. This could be because of racism or the tenant’s misbehavior.
On the other hand the landlord upon knowing the dreadful conditions of his house should have considered renovating it for the tenant so that he lived happily and felt safety in the house. Also it was the landlord’s responsibility to provide a safe house to the tenant. So what if the tenant got angry at him for not repairing the house, he should have considered it before renting the house to the tenant without considering the race to which he belonged.
According to the law both the tenant and landlord have certain responsibilities to fulfill in order to maintain a peaceful contract. One of the laws very clearly states that there should be no harassment from both sides which both the landlord and the tenant did not follow. So both were at fault considering the situation mentioned in the poem, by Hughes. The only thing was the injustice in the end to the tenant by the judge. This shows racism on their behalf, but maybe since the tenant physically abused the landlord by punching him, the judge was left with no choice.
Works Cited
http://allpoetry.com/poem/8495547-The_Ballad_Of_The_Landlord-by-Langston_Hughes
